Generating storage plans in storage management systems

ABSTRACT

A method is provided to integrate a ticketing system into a storage management system. In such method, tickets are opened and translated to a set of recommended operations automatically, notifying and showing to a storage administrator the recommended operations as a set of actions and forms. The storage administrator is offered the ability including changing a step of the set of actions and re-ordering the set of actions.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates generally to the field of storagemanagement, and more particularly to generating automatic plans instorage ticketing systems.

In general, storage management refers to the technologies and processesorganizations use to maximize or improve the performance of their datastorage resources. Storage management may include virtualization,replication, mirroring, security, compression, traffic analysis, processautomation, storage provisioning, and related techniques.

Storage management may bring forth many benefits to an organization,including: (i) allowing organizations to better unitize their existingstorage; (ii) simplifying the management of storage networks anddevices; (iii) improving a data center's performance; and/or (iv)helping a data center improve its reliability and availability.

SUMMARY

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is a method,computer program product and/or system for generating an automatic planin a storage management system that performs the following operations(not necessarily in the following order): receiving a storage requestthrough a ticketing system; transmitting the storage request to thestorage management system; generating a plan for the storage request;and notifying a storage administrator of the plan; wherein: at least thestep of generating a plan for the storage request is performed bycomputer software running on computer hardware.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a cloud computing node used in a first embodiment of asystem according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment of a cloud computing environment (alsocalled the “first embodiment system”) according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 depicts abstraction model layers used in the first embodimentsystem;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment method performed, atleast in part, by the first embodiment system; and

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a machine logic (for example,software) portion of the first embodiment system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method is provided to integrate a ticketing system into a storagemanagement system. In such method, tickets are opened and translated toa set of recommended operations automatically, notifying and showing toa storage administrator the recommended operations as a set of actionsand forms. The storage administrator is offered the ability includingchanging a step of the set of actions and re-ordering the set ofactions. This Detailed Description section is divided into the followingsub-sections: (i) The Hardware and Software Environment; (ii) ExampleEmbodiment; (iii) Further Comments and/or Embodiments; and (iv)Definitions.

I. The Hardware and Software Environment

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes adetailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachingsrecited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather,embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented inconjunction with any other type of computing environment now known orlater developed.

Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient,on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that canbe rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort orinteraction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may includeat least five characteristics, at least three service models, and atleast four deployment models.

Characteristics are as follows:

On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provisioncomputing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, asneeded automatically without requiring human interaction with theservice's provider.

Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network andaccessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneousthin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).

Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to servemultiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physicaland virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according todemand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumergenerally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of theprovided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher levelof abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).

Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elasticallyprovisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out andrapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilitiesavailable for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can bepurchased in any quantity at any time.

Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimizeresource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level ofabstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage,processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can bemonitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both theprovider and consumer of the utilized service.

Service Models are as follows:

Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure.The applications are accessible from various client devices through athin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based email). Theconsumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructureincluding network, servers, operating systems, storage, or evenindividual application capabilities, with the possible exception oflimited user-specific application configuration settings.

Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer isto deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquiredapplications created using programming languages and tools supported bythe provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, orstorage, but has control over the deployed applications and possiblyapplication hosting environment configurations.

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to theconsumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and otherfundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy andrun arbitrary software, which can include operating systems andapplications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlyingcloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage,deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networkingcomponents (e.g., host firewalls).

Deployment Models are as follows:

Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for anorganization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party andmay exist on-premises or off-premises.

Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by severalorganizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns(e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and complianceconsiderations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third partyand may exist on-premises or off-premises.

Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the generalpublic or a large industry group and is owned by an organization sellingcloud services.

Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or moreclouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities butare bound together by standardized or proprietary technology thatenables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting forload-balancing between clouds).

A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus onstatelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability.At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising anetwork of interconnected nodes.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a schematic of an example of a cloud computingnode is shown. Cloud computing node 10 is only one example of a suitablecloud computing node and is not intended to suggest any limitation as tothe scope of use or functionality of embodiments of the inventiondescribed herein. Regardless, cloud computing node 10 is capable ofbeing implemented and/or performing any of the functionality set forthhereinabove.

In cloud computing node 10 there is a computer system/server 12, whichis operational with numerous other general purpose or special purposecomputing system environments or configurations. Examples of well-knowncomputing systems, environments, and/or configurations that may besuitable for use with computer system/server 12 include, but are notlimited to, personal computer systems, server computer systems, thinclients, thick clients, handheld or laptop devices, multiprocessorsystems, microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmableconsumer electronics, network PCs, minicomputer systems, mainframecomputer systems, and distributed cloud computing environments thatinclude any of the above systems or devices, and the like.

Computer system/server 12 may be described in the general context ofcomputer system executable instructions, such as program modules, beingexecuted by a computer system. Generally, program modules may includeroutines, programs, objects, components, logic, data structures, and soon that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Computer system/server 12 may be practiced in distributed cloudcomputing environments where tasks are performed by remote processingdevices that are linked through a communications network. In adistributed cloud computing environment, program modules may be locatedin both local and remote computer system storage media including memorystorage devices.

As shown in FIG. 1, computer system/server 12 in cloud computing node 10is shown in the form of a general-purpose computing device. Thecomponents of computer system/server 12 may include, but are not limitedto, one or more processors or processing units 16, a system memory 28,and a bus 18 that couples various system components including systemmemory 28 to processor 16.

Bus 18 represents one or more of any of several types of bus structures,including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, anaccelerated graphics port, and a processor or local bus using any of avariety of bus architectures. By way of example, and not limitation,such architectures include Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus,Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, Enhanced ISA (EISA) bus, VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA) local bus, and PeripheralComponent Interconnect (PCI) bus.

Computer system/server 12 typically includes a variety of computersystem readable media. Such media may be any available media that isaccessible by computer system/server 12, and it includes both volatileand non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media.

System memory 28 can include computer system readable media in the formof volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM) 30 and/or cachememory 32. Computer system/server 12 may further include otherremovable/non-removable, volatile/non-volatile computer system storagemedia. By way of example only, storage system 34 can be provided forreading from and writing to a non-removable, non-volatile magnetic media(not shown and typically called a “hard drive”). Although not shown, amagnetic disk drive for reading from and writing to a removable,non-volatile magnetic disk (e.g., a “floppy disk”), and an optical diskdrive for reading from or writing to a removable, non-volatile opticaldisk such as a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or other optical media can be provided.In such instances, each can be connected to bus 18 by one or more datamedia interfaces. As will be further depicted and described below,memory 28 may include at least one program product having a set (e.g.,at least one) of program modules that are configured to carry out thefunctions of embodiments of the invention.

Program/utility 40, having a set (at least one) of program modules 42,may be stored in memory 28 by way of example, and not limitation, aswell as an operating system, one or more application programs, otherprogram modules, and program data. Each of the operating system, one ormore application programs, other program modules, and program data orsome combination thereof, may include an implementation of a networkingenvironment. Program modules 42 generally carry out the functions and/ormethodologies of embodiments of the invention as described herein.

Computer system/server 12 may also communicate with one or more externaldevices 14 such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a display 24, etc.;one or more devices that enable a user to interact with computersystem/server 12; and/or any devices (e.g., network card, modem, etc.)that enable computer system/server 12 to communicate with one or moreother computing devices. Such communication can occur via Input/Output(I/O) interfaces 22. Still yet, computer system/server 12 cancommunicate with one or more networks such as a local area network(LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and/or a public network (e.g.,the Internet) via network adapter 20. As depicted, network adapter 20communicates with the other components of computer system/server 12 viabus 18. It should be understood that although not shown, other hardwareand/or software components could be used in conjunction with computersystem/server 12. Examples include, but are not limited to: microcode,device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays,RAID systems, tape drives, and data archival storage systems, etc.

Referring now to FIG. 2, illustrative cloud computing environment 50 isdepicted. As shown, cloud computing environment 50 comprises one or morecloud computing nodes 10 with which local computing devices used bycloud consumers, such as, for example, personal digital assistant (PDA)or cellular telephone 54A, desktop computer 54B, laptop computer 54C,and/or automobile computer system 54N may communicate. Nodes 10 maycommunicate with one another. They may be grouped (not shown) physicallyor virtually, in one or more networks, such as Private, Community,Public, or Hybrid clouds as described hereinabove, or a combinationthereof. This allows cloud computing environment 50 to offerinfrastructure, platforms and/or software as services for which a cloudconsumer does not need to maintain resources on a local computingdevice. It is understood that the types of computing devices 54A-N shownin FIG. 2 are intended to be illustrative only and that computing nodes10 and cloud computing environment 50 can communicate with any type ofcomputerized device over any type of network and/or network addressableconnection (e.g., using a web browser).

Referring now to FIG. 3, a set of functional abstraction layers providedby cloud computing environment 50 (FIG. 2) is shown. It should beunderstood in advance that the components, layers, and functions shownin FIG. 3 are intended to be illustrative only and embodiments of theinvention are not limited thereto. As depicted, the following layers andcorresponding functions are provided:

Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and softwarecomponents. Examples of hardware components include mainframes; RISC(Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers; storagedevices; networks and networking components. In some embodimentssoftware components include network application server software.

Virtualization layer 62 provides an abstraction layer from which thefollowing examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers;virtual storage; virtual networks, including virtual private networks;virtual applications and operating systems; and virtual clients.

In one example, management layer 64 may provide the functions describedbelow. Resource provisioning provides dynamic procurement of computingresources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks withinthe cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing provide costtracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computingenvironment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of theseresources. In one example, these resources may comprise applicationsoftware licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloudconsumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources.User portal provides access to the cloud computing environment forconsumers and system administrators. Service level management providescloud computing resource allocation and management such that requiredservice levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning andfulfillment provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloudcomputing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated inaccordance with an SLA.

Workloads layer 66 provides examples of functionality for which thecloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads andfunctions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping andnavigation; software development and lifecycle management; virtualclassroom education delivery; data analytics processing; transactionprocessing; and functionality according to the present invention (seefunction block 66 a) as will be discussed in detail, below, in thefollowing sub-sections of this Detailed description section.

The programs described herein are identified based upon the applicationfor which they are implemented in a specific embodiment of theinvention. However, it should be appreciated that any particular programnomenclature herein is used merely for convenience, and thus theinvention should not be limited to use solely in any specificapplication identified and/or implied by such nomenclature.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

II. Example Embodiment

A mandatory part of the work of storage administrators is derived fromrequests which are sent to them from host administrators or applicationadministrators. Examples for requests includes creating a storage space,moving storage space from one place to another, troubleshooting lowness,creating a mirror for a storage space, etc. Those requests aremaintained in a ticketing system, and the storage administratorretrieves the request tickets from the ticketing system and handlesthem. The storage administrator translates the request to a set ofoperations needed in order to find the issue or run the operationrequested. Manual intervention is needed here for translation ofrequests to commands in a management user interface (UI) application.The storage administrator needs to decide things according to what heknows and recognizes from the storage systems, using reports for trendanalysis or viewing information from the management applications andanalyzing it.

Some embodiments of the present invention provides a method to integratea ticketing system into a storage management application/system. Themethod exposes API (application programming interface) to external toolsor UI (user interface) that use the API to open tickets, and translateeach ticket to a set of recommended operations automatically. Therecommended operations/plane is notified and shown to a storageadministrator as a set of actions and forms, giving the storageadministrator the ability to change a step, remove, re-order or justplay the set of actions (e.g., approve the ticket). Thus, the process ofdecision making in the storage world is improved. By automating thisprocess it reduces the manual resources needed and improves the qualityof the tickets handling.

FIG. 4 shows flowchart 250 depicting a method according to the presentinvention. FIG. 5 shows program 300 for performing at least some of themethod operations of flowchart 250. This method and associated softwarewill now be discussed, over the course of the following paragraphs, withextensive reference to FIG. 4 (for the method operation blocks) and FIG.5 (for the software blocks). One physical location where program 300 ofFIG. 5 may be stored is in storage block 60 a (see FIG. 3).

Processing begins at operation S255, where request generation module(“mod”) 405 receives a storage request through a ticketing system. Inthis example, the ticketing system has an external API by which a useris able to make storage requests that relate to the storage in anorganization. The request may be made by the user through an externaltool or user interface that employs the external API. The user hereinmay be a host administrator or an application administrator who makesthe request through a local computing device such as 54A, 54B, 54C and54N in FIG. 2. The host may be a cloud computing node 10 as shown inFIGS. 1 and 2, and the application may be running on one of such hosts.The request includes, but not limited to: (i) creating a storage spacewith a specified size that should be allowed to grow by a specific sizeper year; and (ii) mirroring such storage space to a machine in adifferent site, such as to a second cloud computing node that isdifferent from the first cloud computing device on which the storagespace is allocated.

Processing proceeds to operation S260, where request transmission mod410 transmits the storage request to a storage managementapplication/system. In this example, whenever such a storage request isbeing made, the ticketing system sends this request to the storagemanagement system via a proprietary API. For example, the storagerequests may be exposed through a RESTful (Representational StateTransfer) API to the storage management system. The management system'sUI gets the API.

Processing proceeds to operation S265, where plan generation mod 415generates a plan for the storage request. In this example, the plangeneration mod (also referred ticket analyzer mod) in the storagemanagement system automatically search for a best solution to therequest, that is, translate the request to the best suggested actionsaccording to analysis. Such analysis is based on numerous parametersincluding, but not limited to: (i) an eco-system including all machinesand hosts (e.g., cloud computing device 10 in FIG. 2) monitored by thestorage management system; (ii) information which can be entered to thestorage management system (e.g., policy controls and priorities.);and/or (iii) other requests in the storage management system. Whenanalyzing a single ticket, the other tickets may have effect on it. Forexample, the other requests may imply for complementary actions on thesame storage objects (e.g., map a volume and resize it). Further, theother requests may limit the alternatives for solution of the currentticket. For example, a first request to shrink a pool may prevent asecond request from creating new volumes in this pool. Another example,a first request to create a new volume which is followed by a secondrequest to shrink a pool cannot be served by creating the new volume inthe pool that should be shrunk.

Further, some embodiments include in the analysis the trends in thestorage systems by considering the capacity and performance trends ofstorage objects. When performing decisions on storage objects, a veryimportant parameter is to forecast the behavior of the storage objectsin the future. The capacity and performance trend of a storage objectmay be predicted based on the capacity and performance trend of asimilar storage object. For example, if a certain volume on a similarstorage object (also referred to as a pool that holds this volume) isused to grow by 100 GB per month and the similar storage object isalmost full, then the storage object on which the current request willbe performed will be predicted to be full in the next months. The trendof a similar storage object can be reflected on the storage object onwhich the current request will be performed. Such mechanism can give thebest suggestion to the request.

The output of the analysis in the ticket analyzer is a plan for eachticket—a suggested list of actions to handle the ticket. The plan mayinclude the parameters which are involved in choosing this plan. Forexample, the plan may include: (i) choose the systems and pools thattheir capacity trend is going to allow a storage space growth. Thestorage management application would use the forecast it predicts to thesystems and pools in the site by its capacity planning module; (ii)choose the systems that are connected to a target system in a differentsite. The management application has already the information of systemsconnectivity throughout all sites. In addition the managementapplication would use its capacity planning module to check the targetsystems that allow the capacity growth specified in the request.

Processing proceed to end at operation S270, where notification mod 420notifies a storage administrator of the generated plan for the request.In this example, the management application exposes the plan using theUI, for example, a dedicated view for the request and its plan. Further,the management application notifies a storage administrator of the planrequested (not the ticket requested, but already the plan itself, asopposed to conventional ticketing systems). The notification may be sentfrom the management application to a registered device (e.g., mobile, ormail running the device). The device may be a local computing devicesuch as 54A, 54B, 54C and 54N in FIG. 2. The notification may be a pushnonfiction that wake up the mobile phone, and the storage administratoris able to display the plan on the mobile application and approve theplan to be executed. Alternatively, the storage administrator may loginto the management UI application (e.g., via a mobile), the requestedplan will display, for example, in the dedicated view. Further thestorage administrator may be offered the ability to change a step,remove, re-order or just play the set of actions in the plan. Upon theapproval by the storage administrator, the plan is executed in thebackground of the storage management system.

III. Further Comments and/or Embodiments

Some embodiments of the present invention recognize the following facts,potential problems and/or potential areas for improvement with respectto the current state of the art: (i) In conventional storage managementapplication, the quality and the time it takes to handle the requestticket are deeply affected because of the manual nature of requestshandling; (ii) the storage administrator may take the wrong decision andprovide a non-ideal solution;(iii) analyzing each request manually andsearching for the solution are time and resource consuming; (iv) inconventional storage management system, the storage administrators spenda considerable part of their time processing tickets ,which can be savedby automating this process; and/or (v) the conventional ticketingsystems are different applications than the storage administrationapplications, such that the storage administrators work is inherentlydivided between those two applications—the application which maintainsthe tickets, and the application in which the storage administratorsoperate in order to administer the storage system and run the commandsthat handle the tickets.

Some embodiments of the present invention may include one, or more, ofthe following features, characteristics and/or advantages: (i) themodule that generates the automatic plans is integrated in the storagemanagement application, so that it can utilize the entire data andmechanisms which the storage management application maintains; (ii) theautomatic plan may be based on policy controls that the storagemanagement application provides, and capacity trends which are computedin the storage management application and others; and/or (iii) minimummanual intervention and maximum automation are generated in anon-automated environment.

IV. Definitions

Present invention: should not be taken as an absolute indication thatthe subject matter described by the term “present invention” is coveredby either the claims as they are filed, or by the claims that mayeventually issue after patent prosecution; while the term “presentinvention” is used to help the reader to get a general feel for whichdisclosures herein are believed to potentially be new, thisunderstanding, as indicated by use of the term “present invention,” istentative and provisional and subject to change over the course ofpatent prosecution as relevant information is developed and as theclaims are potentially amended.

Embodiment: see definition of “present invention” above—similar cautionsapply to the term “embodiment.”

and/or: inclusive or; for example, A, B “and/or” C means that at leastone of A or B or C is true and applicable.

Module/Sub-Module: any set of hardware, firmware and/or software thatoperatively works to do some kind of function, without regard to whetherthe module is: (i) in a single local proximity; (ii) distributed over awide area; (iii) in a single proximity within a larger piece of softwarecode; (iv) located within a single piece of software code; (v) locatedin a single storage device, memory or medium; (vi) mechanicallyconnected; (vii) electrically connected; and/or (viii) connected in datacommunication.

Computer: any device with significant data processing and/or machinereadable instruction reading capabilities including, but not limited to:desktop computers, mainframe computers, laptop computers,field-programmable gate array (FPGA) based devices, smart phones,personal digital assistants (PDAs), body-mounted or inserted computers,embedded device style computers, application-specific integrated circuit(ASIC) based devices.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a storage requestthrough a ticketing system, the storage request being received via anapplication programming interface (API) from a local computing device tothe ticketing system; transmitting the storage request to a storagemanagement system from the ticketing system via a RESTful API;generating a plan for the storage request by the storage managementsystem, the plan being based on a translation of the storage requestinto a set of actions, a set of capacity trends determined by monitoringlogical storage space capacities by the storage management system, and apool having a capacity trend indicative of an allowed capacity increasespecified in the storage request; notifying a storage administrator viathe RESTful API of the plan by sending the plan from the storagemanagement system to a device by which the storage administrator hasaccess to the plan; and executing the plan responsive to approval of theplan by the storage administrator; wherein: at least the step ofgenerating the plan for the storage request is performed by computersoftware running on computer hardware.